Trump Wars 4: A New Hope

In politics, it seems, hope springs eternal. After the firing of Steve Bannon, we have reporters, pundits and Republican strategists once again asking if this is finally the thing that is going to give us a new, more adult and reasonable Donald Trump. Here’s a CNN reporter wondering that:

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: You imagine so. I mean I guess the big question for Donald Trump all alongis why can’t he make friends more easily? Right? Not only why is he not going after those Democrats, why didn’t he try to bring them into the tent and then maintain some of those relationships? And, I mean, if you talked to Republicans early on, they want this president to succeed, they want to be for him, and they’ve been disappointed. But they have, I think, typically been with him. We talked about this. Flake even, right? Flake hasn’t really done anything to go against this president in terms of policy. Right? He was on the president’s side in terms of health care. So I am interested to see whether or not, and I know we always talk about this, whether or not there will be a new versionof Trump. But really, will there be a new version of Trump post-Bannon. Whether we had Bannon was in the White House sort of stoking this intraparty fight among the GOP, and we all know that Bannon is anti-establishment, and going forward whether or not there’s sort of a more Kelly influence and we’ll see something different. Whether or not he drops — what you were talking about before — stoking these primary challenges.

A Republican strategist on MSNBC said the same thing Tuesday morning, hoping that Bannon’s firing and his Afghanistan speech, read from a teleprompter and full of vague and often meaningless rhetoric, was a signal that we’re finally seeing a new, more presidential Trump. Seriously, are people really this naive? Why is that even a question worth asking now, especially when we’ve asked it a dozen times already. First it was “once he wins the primary, then he’ll start to act more presidential.” Then it was after he was elected, then after the inauguration, then after his State of the Union speech (when pundits across the political spectrum declared that this was the day he truly became president), and on and on and on.

It isn’t going to happen, people. And if you think it is, you’re dumber than Charlie Brown thinking that this time Lucy isn’t going to yank the football away. Get this through your skulls: THIS IS WHO TRUMP IS. Those few times when he acts like an actual adult are when he’s reluctantly play-acting and reading from a teleprompter. The real Donald Trump is the narcissistic, petulant child you see on Twitter and in live interviews every single day. It’s who he has always been. It’s who he will always be. Firing Steve Bannon isn’t going to change that. Naming John Kelly his chief of staff isn’t going to change that. Nothing is going to change that. I can’t believe I even have to say that at this point.